The sound of scraping nails from beneath the coffin intensified, as if trying to claw through the stone lid itself. "That's it!" Liang Qian nodded, then leaped down from the coffin.

I rushed over as well, needing to see what was happening. Liang Qian first shoved aside a corpse lying nearby, then together we heaved against the coffin lid.

The stone sarcophagus was pitch black—the material unknown—and the lid was incredibly heavy. We were drenched in sweat from straining, managing to shift it only a fraction.

Truthfully, though it was my first time opening a coffin, saving someone took precedence over overthinking it. I grabbed the flashlight and shone it inside.

The sight that greeted me made me gasp in shock. Liang Qian was clearly startled too.

She rubbed her chin and remarked, "Daxiong seems to have lost weight." I nodded, adding, "Yeah, not just thinner. His hair is white too.

No, wait, his hair, beard, chest hair, leg hair—it’s all white." What lay inside was a figure clad in coarse hemp cloth, impossibly gaunt, almost skin and bones. Lying flat, his hands, tipped with sharp, black nails, were waving ceaselessly.

Looking closer at the face brought an even greater sense of unreality. A mask!

The person wore a mask of pure, jade-like white. His eyes were closed, the corners of his mouth turned up in an unsettling, grotesque curve.

The mask seemed to smile, yet it was so eerily fixed that it instilled a profound sense of revulsion. There was another bizarre feature: a fine layer of white down grew on the neck below the mask, resembling the feathers of some kind of bird.

This same fine white hair was visible on the backs of the hands and legs as well. A thought suddenly struck me—something from the books about Jiangshi.

Generally, Jiangshi were categorized as Hei Xiong (Black Fierce) or Bai Xiong (White Fierce), both types covered in a dense, resilient layer of hair. Only then did I grasp what I was looking at.

Cold dread shot up my spine, and I instinctively stumbled two steps back, gasping, "This is bad! Daxiong has turned into a Jiangshi already—and a Bai Xiong at that!" Just then, the white-haired Daxiong suddenly sat bolt upright, emitting a low, gurgling sound: "Gē gē gē." Liang Qian registered the change instantly, quickly retreating a step, her shotgun already raised.

Faster than words could describe, the white-haired Daxiong stood up from the coffin. It began sniffing the air around us, looking for all the world like an oversized Chow Chow dog.

But this appearance evoked no affection; instead, it broke me out in a cold sweat. Liang Qian’s face was pale.

She exclaimed in surprise, "Why isn't my Evil-Averting Bronze Censer working? Could this thing not be a Zongzi?" Knowing I couldn't offer an answer, she hesitated only a moment, and before the creature could fully succumb to madness, she squeezed the trigger without a second thought.

I heard a deafening bang, fire spewed forth, and the white-haired thing was blasted backward. It turned out Liang Qian’s long gun was a scattergun, possessing terrifying close-range lethality.

It then unleashed a frenzy of cries that sounded almost like weeping, rising rapidly again. It sniffed the air vigorously, then pressed toward us.

Liang Qian, dripping cold sweat, frantically fired two more shots. Yet the white-haired thing seemed to treat the bullets like mere pinpricks.

After being blown away, it sprang back up within three seconds, arms and legs flailing, rapidly closing the distance between us. When Liang Qian pulled the trigger again, the gun was empty, and we had absolutely no time to reload.

Liang Qian had no choice but to swing the shotgun like a club, knocking the creature to the ground. She retreated behind me, shook her hand, and cursed, "This thing is harder than the metal plating on a Dongfeng truck!

Let’s fall back to a wider area and figure out how to deal with it." Saying this, she pulled me along as we ran back, only to freeze abruptly. Where the corner should have been, a stone door had dropped down at some unknown point, completely sealing off the passage!

My heart sank. Could opening the coffin have triggered a mechanism?

We had no time to ponder. A strange, guttural shriek echoed from behind us, and the creature lunged again, behaving like a mad beast.

This was my first true encounter with a Jiangshi's might: immensely strong, tougher than bronze or iron, impervious to blows or breakage. If I were alone, facing this thing meant certain death.

Liang Qian swore, pulled a handgun from her waist, took two steps forward, and told me, "I'll hold it off for a moment. You run." Though she urged me to flee, I knew there was nowhere to escape.

Cornered, the fear actually receded. I picked up the long-barreled shotgun from the ground, gripping it like a staff, and mumbled, "If we die, we die together.

If it bites us and we become Jiangshi, we'll just bite it back. Then we won't be afraid of each other." Liang Qian glanced at me, clearly surprised by this sudden defiance.

But there was no time for pleasantries; the thing was upon us. Liang Qian fired two shots without hesitation, knocking it away.

However, the creature let out an immediate, angry screech, scrambled up, and charged again with ferocity. "No good!" Liang Qian actually swore loudly.

She tossed the gun aside, secured a cloth strip around her wrist with her teeth, and declared, "Time for close combat!" Close combat? While I knew this was the likely outcome, I couldn't accept it now.

With my physique, I was destined to be torn in half by a Jiangshi's grasp. As I wrestled with these thoughts, I watched Liang Qian get slammed by the white-haired Jiangshi, sent flying before being thrown against the wall with massive force—bang—hitting the stone, her fate uncertain.

My blood turned cold, my entire body soaked in icy sweat. I thought bitterly, "You overgrown monster, don't you know how to treat a lady with respect?" Seeing the white-haired Jiangshi lunge for me, I ducked swiftly, avoiding the attack, then scrambled behind the coffin and crouched down.

I gripped the gun stock tightly, my whole body trembling violently. Before I could even catch my breath, the Jiangshi attacked again.

I jumped up suddenly, intending to mimic Liang Qian and strike with the butt of the gun. But the downward swing only connected with the creature's shoulder.

Not only did it fail to knock it down, but the force violently jarred the gun from my grip. The impact felt like slamming into a speeding train; my hand felt nearly shattered.

A sharp pain flared in my palm from the immense recoil, throwing me backward. My head struck a protruding part of the rock wall behind me.

My ears rang, and a wave of dizziness washed over me. Luckily, this swing caused the Jiangshi to miss.

Both its hands slammed hard onto the stone, scraping a shower of sparks. I thought to myself, If those claws had hit me, I’d have ten see-through holes!

The creature's fingers dug deep into the rock, and it struggled to pull them free, emitting piercing, ear-splitting cries like a night owl. I reached back and touched the back of my head, feeling a sticky wetness—blood.

I knew the injury was serious. When I tried to stand, dizziness overwhelmed me, and I couldn't summon any strength.

My vision tunneled to black; I knew I was near death. I heard the rock behind me groaning under stress—perhaps the Jiangshi, unable to pull its fingers out, was now attempting to crush the stone by pushing further in.

For some inexplicable reason, I suddenly found the situation almost comical. This creature couldn't possibly be Daxiong; even the simplest mind wouldn't be this foolish.

So where was Daxiong? A sudden wave of missing him washed over me.

With that thought, I sighed. Using the faint beam of the dropped flashlight, I looked toward Liang Qian in the distance.

I saw two large, bloody holes in her neck, her face tinged blue—she likely didn't have long either. A surge of self-reproach hit me.

A grown man relying on a woman to fight for him—what a useless failure I was. Just then, I heard the stones above my head cracking ominously, splintering into fissures.

I knew the end was near; once they clawed through this rock, my time would be up... Finally, the rock overhead gave way with a loud ka-la, showering down debris.

The Jiangshi, as if relieved, swiftly yanked its hands free and, without hesitation, lunged for my forehead. I could already vividly picture my skull being torn open, my brain matter splattering.

I could only squeeze my eyes shut...